On convection pattern

When we boil water, the water at the bottom heats up and rises to the surface due to its
lower density and when it is cooled by the air, it sinks because the density is now increased.
However, it is always the water at the centre that rises to the top, and ‘pushes down’ the
water at sides.
It may be related to the shape of container, but the pattern persists when is repeated with a
beaker.
It may because of the distribution of heat, the heat source may focus at the centre of the
beaker; but it does not change if a hot plate is used.
The last hypothesis is that it may due to the temperature difference of the fluid at centre
and the fluid at sides. This may because of the fluid at sides can release their heat through
conduction at the wall of the container (i.e. water losses its heat to the container wall which
then radiates the heat to the air.)
If a metal container (can reach heat equilibrium faster) is used to contain the water, an oil
bath (to maintain the temperature on the fluid, container and outside the container to be
the same) is used to heat up the water. I wonder if the convection pattern would still be
there. In this way, the fluid in the core should have the same temperature as those at the
sides, but the temperature difference at the air-water boundary is still there, so convection
would continues. 2